by Chuck Hall
Your wedding invitations will be the first chance your friends and family will have to see that you are planning an Earth-friendly wedding. By choosing invitations that are recycled or made from tree-free paper, you have set the tone for your green wedding right from the start. Remember to check your local area first when choosing a supplier. The less distance your finished invitations have to travel to be delivered to you, the less fossil fuel they'll use in being transported.
When selecting your invitations, be sure to consider tree-free papers. By using papers made from products other than trees, your wedding invitations will not contribute to deforestation. You will help reduce the demand on our forests while saving water and energy resources. There is a variety of papers available from alternative, Earth-friendly materials. Some of these include hemp, banana stalks, bamboo, cotton and vines. I live in the rural South of the United States, and there are many cottage industries here using kudzu to make lovely hand-made papers.
By using plant materials such as those listed above, trees are saved. Trees used for pulpwood can take as long as twenty years to replenish, whereas the vines and plants used in making these handmade papers can often be replenished annually. The shorter time it takes for these plants to mature makes them the more logical choice when looking for Earth-friendly papers.
Recycled paper is also a viable choice for a green wedding. Papers have been made from recycled paper products, recycled denim, and even recycled currency. By using recycled goods, you give new life to the materials while saving the energy and land space that would be needed to process what would otherwise be more garbage and waste.
There are other considerations for choosing your invitations besides the type of paper you'll be using. One of these is the dyes used to color them. One of the advantages of using natural fiber papers is that the finished product is often attractive without having to add any dyes or color additives. The warm, friendly earth tones that result lend themselves well to weddings with a nature-based theme. But if you choose to use paper that has been colored, be sure to get papers produced using natural dyes. You will also want to make sure that no chlorine has been used in the processing of your paper. Most papers that have not been bleached using chlorine will carry the ‘PCF' label, meaning ‘processed chlorine-free.'
If you are using a commercial printer for your invitations, ask if they use soy-based inks in the printing process. Petroleum-based inks are common throughout the industry. These inks pollute the atmosphere when burned, releasing hydrocarbons. Additionally, petroleum-based inks seep into the water table when the printers clean the presses. Soy-based inks are biodegradable and therefore safer for the environment.
Many of the small shops that offer handmade papers also offer calligraphy services. Most of these shops use natural inks. In some cases they manufacture the inks themselves using natural materials. In addition to the one-of-a-kind elegant touch of hand-lettered invitations, you also contribute to the environment by eliminating the need for potentially toxic printing altogether.
Next week we'll look at green alternatives for wedding rings.
In wedding invitation cultural and traditional kind of design give a special feel in a wedding ceremony, more new creativity had to come and implemented the trend with affordable price and establish it to attract the guests.
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